One-way Mars One mission detractors now include some Muslim clerics (Updated)

Fatwa committee says travelers will risk "punishment similar to that of suicide."

Enlarge/ How Bas Lansdorp and the rest of the Mars One team imagine the first human colony on Mars will look in 2023.

We've written before about Mars One, the combination space mission/reality TV spectacle that aims to send at least four civilians on a one-way journey to the red planet. On the whole, Ars is skeptical, but despite delays, the project continues to push onward. Thousands of people have applied for the trip, in spite of the fact that the project as it's currently outlined has neither the money nor the technology to get off the ground.

But one thing that might stop at least some hopefuls from donning their spacesuits is a fatwa—an interpretation based on Quranic scripture—issued by the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment in the United Arab Emirates. A trip like the proposed Mars One mission, from which there is no plan (or really even possibility) of return to Earth, "poses a real risk to life, and that can never be justified in Islam," ruled the committee, which saw its fatwa published in the UAE-based Khaleej Times.

The fatwa compares the trip to suicide, which it notes is forbidden in the Quran: "Protecting life against all possible dangers and keeping it safe is an issue agreed upon by all religions and is clearly stipulated in verse 4/29 of the Holy Quran: Do not kill yourselves or one another." The fatwa notes that there exists no "righteous reason" to embark on the mission and that participants will potentially incur "punishment similar to that of suicide in the Hereafter."

The fatwa doesn't exist in a vacuum—according to information from Mars One, there are at least 500 applicants from Saudi Arabia and other gulf states on the candidates list. The ruling from the UAE General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments (GAIAE) hasn't yet appeared in GAIAE's fatwa listings, but it doesn't necessarily have the force of law any more than a learned Christian priest or pastor's interpretations of Biblical scripture would. However, it would be something that a devout Muslim would at least take into consideration when making a decision—much in the same way that a devout Christian would likely listen to a pastor or priest about major life decisions.

Space travel as it exists today is far from risk-free, but Mars One goes above and beyond the danger quotient of a typical manned mission: applicants will almost certainly be killed by some part of the process, including, potentially, by dying at least 35 million miles from home. The fatwa doesn't forbid Muslims from traveling in space or even taking part in a mission to Mars—rather, it's a specific condemnation of Mars One's vision of a one-way trip ending in certain death, even if that death is after years of near-solitary living on a mostly (if not entirely) dead world.

"Almighty Allah said in verse 2/195 in the Holy Quran: Do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction," comments Islamic researcher Dr. Shaikh Mohammed Al Ashmawy. The Khaleej Times quotes the researcher as saying that "there is no debate in this issue."

Israeli media network Arutz Sheva notes that since the GAIAE's establishment in 2008, the organization of clerics has issued more than two million fatwas. We'll update this piece to link directly to the fatwa as soon as it appears on the GAIAE's site.

Update:

Mars One has issued a response to the fatwa, wherein it attempts to clarify the nature of the danger inherent to the proposed mission. The response is clear-headed and evokes what Mars One calls the Muslim world's "rich tradition of exploration." Mars One cites the voyages of explorer Ibn Battuta as an example of a devout Muslim who faced the dangers of the unknown, and wrote "about seeing the signs of God's creation wherever he traveled."

Mars One's response notes that no journey into space is without some risk, but that the GAIAE's characterization of the mission's risk is far too high. Rather than simply throwing human lives at Mars like darts at a dartboard, Mars One says that its plan will involve extensive unmanned preparation of the Martian landing site:

It may seem extremely dangerous to send humans to Mars today, but the humans will be preceded by at least eight cargo missions. Robotic unmanned vehicles will prepare the habitable settlement. Water and a breathable atmosphere will be produced inside the habitat and the settlement will be operational for two years, even before the first crew leaves Earth. Each of the cargo missions will land in a system very similar to the human landing capsule. An impressive track record of the landing technology will be established before risking human lives.

This level of preparation does indeed sound quite good—if Mars One can pull it off. Mars One closes by asking the GAIAE to reconsider the risk, taking into consideration the mission's characterization and profile, and to cancel the fatwa.

"The lives and journey of the first Mars settlers will tell us more about our place in the universe than any other humans before us," the statement says as it closes. "As Ibn Battuta also wrote: 'Travelling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.'"

Lee Hutchinson / Lee is the Senior Reviews Editor at Ars and is responsible for the product news and reviews section. He also knows stuff about enterprise storage, security, and manned space flight. Lee is based in Houston, TX.